What should you know about AED's?

You will probably witness cardiac arrest of someone you love or work with in your lifetime.

A few facts you should know about sudden cardiac arrest:

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) claims more than 310,000 lives each year.

SCA kills more than 850 people a day, or one person every two minutes ‒ a number greater than the number of deaths each year from breast cancer, lung cancer, stroke or AIDS.

SCA often occurs in people who appear healthy, which can make it difficult to know who is at risk. Anyone of any age, gender, race or ethnic group can suffer Sudden Cardiac Arrest. It can occur without warning or any previous symptoms.

SCA is not a heart attack. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart's electrical impulses suddenly become chaotic (ventricular fibrillation), causing the heart to abruptly stop pumping blood. The victim becomes unresponsive, has no detectable pulse and stops breathing. Death will result within minutes without defibrillation.

Survival Rate for SCA victims in an urban area is between 2% and 5% unless an AED is used in the first few critical minutes. Where AEDs are available survival rates can be as high as 85%.

What would you do if one of your employees, visitors or a family membercollapsed suffering from a cardiac emergency?

If you had an AED, you would know what to do.

An Automated External Defibrillator is used to deliver an electrical shock to the heart (defibrillation) of an SCA victim. CPR alone is not effective in restoring a normal rhythm. For every minute that the use of an AED is delayed, a victim of SCA loses 10% chance of survival.

AEDs guide users with verbal instructions.

Pads are placed on the victim's bare chest to allow the AED to analyze the heart rhythm and determine if a shock is indicated.

If a shock is indicated, the AED instructs the user to simply press a button and deliver a shock.

AEDs can mean the difference between life and death.

AEDs make it practical to equip employees with this simple lifesaving technology. AEDs are portable, reliable, easy to maintain, durable, low in cost, and most important of all, easy to use. The few minutes saved by use of an AED before outside EMS arrives can mean the difference between life and death.